DUTERTE RECEIVES DRAFT OF FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

President Duterte received the proposed federal Constitution from the Constitutional Commission tasked to review the 1987 Charter in Malacañang yesterday afternoon.

Duterte did not deliver a speech in the handover but former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, chairperson of the 22-man ConCom, lauded the draft Constitution – worked on by the panel for seven months – which he called "bayanihan federalism" that keeps in mind the welfare of the people as the supreme law.

Puno said the bayanihan federalism installs a federal government strong enough to glue the various federated regions and establishes federated regions that are socially, economically, and politically viable and sustainable.

"We divided the powers of government guided by the Filipino spirit of bayanihan (cooperative endeavor) where both the federal government and the federated regions govern the people less in competition but more in cooperation with one another, and aligned with the maxim the welfare of the people is the supreme law," he said.

Puno assured that the ConCom did not stray from Duterte's only directive when the committee was formed: To do what is best for the people. "We assure you that the Consultative Committee did its work with complete independence and unbiased by any partisan politics or elite interest," he said. In other developments: 1. Duterte has agreed to a "moratorium" on his tirades against the Catholic Church following his meeting with Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines President Archbishop Romulo Valles.

The President met Valles behind closed doors in Malacañang for 30 minutes yesterday afternoon amid efforts to improve the government's working relationship with the Church.

"Meet between PRRD and Archbishop Valles took place at 4 p.m. PRRD agreed to a moratorium on statements about the Church after the meeting. It was a one-on-one meeting," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

2. Malacañang said the recent killings of local government officials do not warrant the declaration of martial law across the country.

Roque explained that under the Constitution, the President could only exercise such power of declaring martial law in case of invasion or rebellion.

“So ito pong mga patayan na ito, kahit na ilan pa po iyan, kung wala pong panlulusob at walang rebelyon, hindi po iyan magiging dahilan para magkaroon ng martial law sa buong Pilipinas,” Roque said in a radio interview.